More than a year after the NCAA gave the University of St. Thomas permission to jump directly from Division Three to Division One, the Tommies are finally playing a regular season game as a member of college sports' highest echelon.
The historic match takes place at the south campus field and the 500 seats in the grandstand are expected to be filled to watch the Tommies play Northern Iowa in women's soccer.
"It's been a long time coming, they've been preparing for this through all of last year," said Dr. Phil Esten, St. Thomas athletic director, who took over leadership of the program not long before the Tommies were kicked out of Division Three Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, citing athletic competitive parity.
There will be a ceremony before the 5:00 p.m. kickoff.
"They're going to make history as they represent not just our athletic department and not just the university, but all of our alumni and this community," said Esten, appearing on the WCCO Morning News.
The Tommie women's soccer team has played three exhibition games under veteran head coach Sheila McGill, including a win last Friday over Minnesota State, Mankato.
Northern Iowa has split two matches.
Tuesday's match is also the first in the Summit League for the Tommies, who have 18 of their 21 sports in that conference.
The football team is playing in the Pioneer Football League, men's hockey in the CCHA, and women's hockey in the WCHA.
Esten said there are discussions with all four of those leagues about possible COVID precautions.
"We want to make sure we do the right thing on behalf of our student-athletes," he said.